


Witch Hunt

by EmGem



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Canon Divergence, Case Fic, Castiel Whump (Supernatural), Castiel-centric (Supernatural), Cursed Castiel (Supernatural), Emotionally Hurt Castiel (Supernatural), Episode: s15e03 The Rupture, Gen, Guilty Dean Winchester, Guilty Sam Winchester, Hurt Castiel (Supernatural), Hurt/Comfort, Kind of..., Post-Episode: s15e03 The Rupture, Season/Series 15, Season/Series 15 Spoilers, Spells & Enchantments, The Empty (Supernatural), Witch Curses, Witches
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-14
Updated: 2020-03-14
Packaged: 2021-02-27 09:41:49
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,736
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22255108
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EmGem/pseuds/EmGem
Summary: After leaving the Bunker Castiel works a case on a witch who is using the attack dog spell on civilians. The case quickly goes bad leading to Castiel getting injured and having to call the Winchesters for help to catch the witch. Once they find out he is hurt Castiel struggles to understand why they are helping him...
Relationships: Castiel & Dean Winchester, Castiel & Dean Winchester & Sam Winchester, Castiel & Sam Winchester
Comments: 16
Kudos: 54





	1. Sneak Attack

**Author's Note:**

> I do not own any of these Character. The all belong to the CW and the show Supernatural, I am a fan, plz don't sue me 😂  
> Hope y'all enjoy 😉

It had been a few weeks since he left the bunker. Dean still blamed him for what happened to Mary. Deans words still seared into his brain; Your dead to me. He has tried time and time again, but he knows deep down he hates him. Dean hates him, possibly Sam to, even if he hasn’t told him to his face, Cas had begun to feel the cold that his company is unwished and not needed by either one of the Winchesters. He hated leaving but he knew nothing would change if he stayed, Dean would continue to hate him and his very existence, only causing Cas to hate himself even more than he already does. He was just a broken tool, bringing destruction wherever he went.

He had been following up a lead on a case involving three women and two men dead after according to authorities two of the victims allegedly attacking and killing the other three victims before dropping dead themselves. Eye witnesses described the attackers to be crazed, animal like, and rabid with blood dripping from their eyes and growling at anyone who came close to them. It was the attack dog spell, the same one Rowena had used on him. Just the thought of it makes him want to pack up and abandon the case entirely. He debates whether he should call Sam or Dean for help but quickly decides against it knowing that being around them would just lead to another argument with Dean. He thinks of how much easier it would be just to call Rowena, but he can’t she’s dead. Just another mistake of his that has ended with someone he cares about dead.

Using one of the fake ID’s the Winchesters had gotten for him he went the police station to interview the eyewitnesses about what they saw. A man he was interviewing who had been on the other side of the road while one of the attacks was occurring told him that there was a victim who had survived being the attack but is in hospital, and authorities had thought it would be safer for her if they left her name out of the newspaper and reports until the figured out what was going on. He went straight the hospital. The girl gave him a description of a women who she had seen around at the time of the attack who had been talking to the attacker moments before it happened. Using the description she gave, Cas looked through the security camera footage to identify her.

After about a week of playing FBI Castiel had tracked down the witch. Usually he would just kill her and move on but she had used one of Rowena’s spells and he wanted to know how she got her hands on it.

“Where did you get that spell?” He asks a mix of anger and weariness in his voice.

“Like I would tell you Angel.” The witch snarled back.

“You know what I am?” Castiel asks, making direct eye contact for the first time.

“Of cause I know what you are. Everyone knows you. The Winchesters lil pet angel that follows them wherever they go. Speaking of, where are the two idiots anyway?” She retorts, her brown hair half covering her forged pouting frown.

“That is none of your concern.” He says jaw tightening at the mention of the Winchester’s name.

“Oh did they hurt the lil angels feelings?” she asks, her sarcasm and mockery rolling off her tough ready to jab into him.

“No. They are none of your concern cause they are not here and if you would like to leave this room alive I would advise that you answer my questions as asked, when asked. Do I make myself clear?” Castiel says eyes blazing blue as he closes the gap between him and the restrained witch.

“Yeah, yeah. Fine, just get on with it would ya. I have an appointment to get to.” She says with a devilish smile, eyes gleaming an unearthly reddish brown.

“An appointment? With who?” Castiel asks anxiety beginning to creep into his system.

“Don’t worry, you’ll meet her in a minute” she says with a half laugh as the front door explodes off its hinges.

Castiel spins around angel blade now in hand and starts towards the entry. Coming through the doorway is a woman with red hair and green glowing eyes. Crap there were two witches he curses to himself. Before Castiel can reach her, she has her hands up pointing up him and chanting something he does not understand. Just as he is about reach her, she thrusts her hands out and a blast of light slams into Castiel throwing him into the far wall. He blinks away the hazy darkness surrounding his vision looking up to see her uncuffing the other witch who Castiel had captured. 

“You really that stupid to get caught?” The red head quips to the now released witch.

“Wouldn’t have been caught if your dumb ass didn’t attract a hunter and angel.” The now free brunette witch retorts.

Castiel tries to get up but is pushed down by an invisible force he assumes is one of the witches.

“Uh uh uh. Oh no you don’t. You’re gonna stay right where you are.” She says finger pointing at him as her brown hair dances across her glowing blue eyes. She says something he can’t quite hear before he feels his muscles spasm. It begins to get hard for him to breathe, he looks up in time to see the two witches leave. This isn’t right, he doesn’t need air as an angel. His hands reach up grabbing at his throat as he wheezes for air. He takes one last glance at the empty doorway as everything morphs into darkness.


	2. Winchester's on the Case

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After Sam gets a text from Cas about the case he is working on the two Winchester's decide to go help him track down the two Witches.  
> They soon realise that Cas might be in more trouble than they thought...

Dean is exhausted. He and Sam have been hunting non-stop for the past three weeks. They’ve worked three werewolf cases and two vampire cases, giving them both very little time to rest, Dean wasn’t getting nearly close to his full four hours sleep he needs to function. After going for a quick drive to the shops to re stock on hunting supplies and food Dean made his way down the stairs and put the groceries on the map table where Sam was sitting back in a chair on his phone with his laptop set up in front of him opened on some random News site probably looking for another case.

“Hey, you found anything?” Dean asks taking a seat opposite to his brother.

“No, there is nothing weird in the papers or online.” Sam replies voice monotone and not taking his eyes away from his phone. His expression telling him it was important.

“Whatya looking at?” Dean asks leaning back in his chair.

“Just reading a text from Cas.” Sam says eyes still reading the message.

“From Cas? What does he want?” Dean says still pissed at the rogue angel about the whole Jack thing.

“He was looking into a case a few hours away. A witch has apparently been using the attack dog spell…” Sam says before being quickly cut off by Dean.

“Don’t tell me the idiot got the spell cast on him again” Dean says angrily. Though Sam could tell he was worried and rightfully so. Last time it took Cas weeks to fully recover and get back on the job. Then soon after that he said yes to Lucifer. Sam shivered at the thought.

“No, he didn’t, he caught the witch to interrogate her about where she got the spell from in the first place, but another witch showed up and broke her out.” Sam said while skimming back over the message.

“Well is he ok?” This time he looked genuinely scared for the angel.

“He says he’s fine, but he needs help with tracking them down again.” Sam tells him. 

“Alright, lets go before he tries to do anything else stupid” Dean says getting up.  
“Meet back here is five.” He adds already on his way out of the room to get his stuff.  
The truth was Cas hadn’t mentioned if he was ok or not, but they could ask him when they get there.

It was a good five-hour drive to where Cas was, even with Dean’s absorbed driving. Sam swears one of these days Dean is going to run them off the road. Once they are finally at their destination they pull into the driveway and swiftly made their way to the front door which is flimsily attached to the doorframe at a slight angle and covered with black char marks. Dean knocks on the door which makes a slight creaking sound as the wood begins to split under his knuckles. After a few long seconds Cas opens the door. His hair is sticking up in every direction similar to how he used to have it when them first met him, there was ash smudged across his slightly pale face and his eyes were blood shot like he hadn’t slept for a week.

“Well you look like shit.” Dean states.

The only response he gets in return is Cas rolling his eyes before heading back inside leading the way for them. Walking into the one-story house Dean saw that the living room consisted of a collapsed bookcase a soot covered couch and a dining table which was full of books and pages he guessed were related to the case. Glancing to his left he sees another room that seems to be the kitchen and straight ahead looks like it must be the bedroom. As his eyes wonder around the living room Dean notices a broken chair with cuffs hanging off the armrest which he can only assume was where the witch was be held.

“I wouldn’t have called you unless it was an emergency.” Castiel says obviously annoyed at their arrival looking like he’d rather be anywhere else, but it was still good to see him after weeks of radio silence. Sam had missed him and although he knows his brother would rather shoot himself in the foot than admit it, he knew Dean had missed Cas as well.

“It’s really no problem Cas. So how you’ve been?” Sam asks with a smile.

“I’m as good as I can be.” He says simply after a quick pause. A sad smile creeps onto his face, Sam can tell he’s thinking about Jack but to avoid beginning an argument between his brother and the angel he doesn’t mention it. He will ask Cas about it later when Dean isn’t around.

“So, what did you find out before you let them get away.” Dean asks abruptly. Letting his anger towards the angel flare for a brief second before quickly shielding it away again.

The room goes quiet, Sam looks a Dean, his irritation towards his brother constantly growing. Cas looks up from the ground making eye contact for split second before looking back down at the ground, Sam quickly tries to re direct the conversation back to the case.

“How about you show us what files and information you have found so far?” Sam asks breaking the awkward silence Dean had cast on the room.

“So far I have found some basic files on both of the witches.” Cas walks over to the pile on the table, picking up a few files off the top of one of the stacks. He opens one up and flicks through its contents.

“Here are their driving registrations, bank account details, but nothing drastically important to the case. To be honest I’m pretty confident most of its fake.” Cas states not taking his eyes off the files. He visibly swallows before he starts coughing. 

“Cas? You ok?” Sam asks attentively as he slowly walks over to the sputtering angel.  
Cas wheezed as he got his coughing under control.

“I’m fine, something just…something just hit the back of my throat.” Cas says both of the brother’s eyes now fixed on him. God, he has always been such a bad liar.  
The room was silent once again, neither Sam nor Dean knowing what was going on with Cas. 

“I’m going to grab some of the other files from the kitchen.” Cas says quietly as he storms out of the room.

“Cas…” Sam begins before stopping himself and turning to Dean.

“Somethings wrong with Cas.” Dean says matter-of-factly. Not looking at his brother, just keeping his worried eyes on the doorway Cas had gone through. 

Sam agreed with him, something was definitely wrong with Cas, whether it was the death of Jack and exhaustion wearing him down to the point of getting ill or if it was a spell from one of the witches, they needed to have a serious talk with the angel. Cause it was obvious he wasn’t looking after himself.

“You’re right. We’ll ask him what’s up when he comes back, but you can’t say anything that will make him close himself off to us.” Sam says to Dean careful not to piss his brother off.

“Fine, I know what I said before was harsh and I won’t say anything else like that to him again.” Dean say’s seeming slightly irritated by the whole situation.

Cas entered the kitchen needing a moment from the Winchesters. He was still mad about what happened to Jack, mad with Dean, hell he was mad at God. He knew he needed their help though and he just hoped that would help him get through working with them. 

He had begun to feel a bit claustrophobic in the same room as them, he didn’t know why but he left a tight feeling in his chest he just couldn’t budge. He took a few deep breathes trying to compose his emotions for the time being before walking over to the old marble bench and looking for anything useful in his research that could help then track down the witches.

He stopped when the tightness in his chest ramped up, it was starting to become really uncomfortable. He looked down at himself as he brought his hand slowly up to his torso. He winced slightly as his hand made contact with his chest. As the seconds ticked by the sensation began to spread to his lungs and his skin, which was starting to feel like it was squeezing his ribcage.

He tried to compose himself once again, but he couldn’t help the spreading of panic that was starting to overtake him. He could hear Sam and Dean talking in the other room as he continued to try and breathe through whatever was happening to him.

“We should get him to a motel. This place is practically falling apart, and the witches know he’s here.” Dean continues as his eyes dance around to room and taking in its state.

“Let’s start packing some of Cas’ research into the Impala while he grabs the rest of…”

“Dean?” a wheezing voice says from behind them.

Sam and Dean quickly turn around to see Cas, one hand at his throat and the other around his stomach.

“I can’t…br…breathe” Cas wheezed out between short huffed breathes. He sways before crashing to the floor.

“Son of bitch!” Dean yells as he and Sam drop to their knees next to him.

“Cas! Cas, what’s wrong? Was it one of the witches?” Sam asks trying his best to keep his panic composed for the angels sake. 

“I…I don’t…know.” Cas eyes were starting to go hazy as he desperately tried to gasp in air.

Dean’s eyes run over Cas looking for something that could have caused this. He stops as his gaze lands on Cas arm which is still wrapped around his centre. He quickly and carefully reaches for Cas’ arm.

“Cas? Are you hurt?” Dean asks wearily as he tries to move Cas hand away from his stomach. He pauses when he a hears a faint whistling coming from the angel. ‘Shit his throat is closing up!’ Dean thinks to himself. Throwing caution to the wind Dean yanks Cas arm out of the way ignoring the weak whimper it causes. 

“Sam.” Dean says hoping he will understand that he needs him to hold Cas still while he inspects Cas for any injury or sign of what may have caused this.

“Got it.” Sam replies as he swiftly moves in behind Cas instantly gripping on tightly to the angel’s shoulders and leaning him against his chest and shoulder. 

Dean looks at Cas face, he is barely breathing and looks like he is about to pass out. He hurriedly grabs onto Cas white dress suit pulling it up as quickly as he can.

“What the hell?” Dean mumbles not understanding what he was seeing.

“What? What is it?” Sam asks urgently trying to catch a glimpse at what Dean was looking at. Even with his eyes now half lidded Cas looked shocked at the sight of his torso.

Black wire like tar wraps around his chest digging into the surface of his skin and burrowing deep into his chest and stomach. Dean looks back at Cas who is visibly a few shades paler from the discovery of the black marking and chest heaving. Cas meets his eyes for a brief moment before his eyes roll back and his head falls back onto Sam who still had him by his shoulders to keep him from completely crumbling to the ground.

“Cas?” Both brothers call out to him as he slips into unconsciousness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys, hope you enjoyed this chapter. I know its a lot longer than the first one, I just hope I didn't drag it out to much 😂  
> Please feel free to tell me what you think and give me some feedback. 😊  
> As I am in year 12 I am super busy and Chapter updates will be quite irregular.  
> Thanks for your understanding.


	3. Off We Go

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dean and Sam worry about what the should do about Cas and the case...

He looked down at the black substance as it wrapped itself around him, consuming him. He felt panic seize his chest as the world around him suddenly snapped to black. He looked up to see he was completely submerged in darkness. He couldn’t move, his breathe hitching as the sudden realisation of it all sunk in.   
He was in the Empty.  
He was going to be stuck in this world of darkness for the rest of eternity.

“No, no, no.” Was all he could manage to say as the corners of his eyes started to sting.

“I don’t understand. I…I wasn’t even happy.” He says to himself before a weak sob escapes his throat.

“And you never will be” An unnerving voice says from behind him. 

He spins around in time to see a dark figure with black molten, rippling skin moving on its form as a demented smile appears on its blank face.

“Welcome back.” The entity says before it lunges at him.

His eyes snap open as he wakes up gasping for air. The harsh midday sunlight coming through the windows burning at his eyes as the faint rumble of the Impala meets his ears. He slouches back to lay down. ‘It was just a dream’ he thinks to himself as he tries to calm his breathing. He wasn’t in the empty.

“…Cas?! Cas are you ok?” It was then he realised Sam had been shouting down at him trying to get his attention.

He could feel that his head was propped up on something and as he became more lucid, he began to take in his surroundings. He was lying down across the back seat of the Impala, at the side of the road. He looked up to find that his head was resting in Sam’s lap and Dean was in the front looking at him over the back of his seat. He now could properly see both of their worried faces looking down at him. ‘Crap’ he thinks as he realises he must have been murmuring in his unconscious state.

“Hey, breathe. You’re ok, there you go. Just keep breathing Cas.” Sam said voice trembling with obvious concern.

“I’m fine.” He finally groans out his voice even more gravelly than usual as he tries to catch his breath. Sam looked like he wanted to argue but Dean was already talking at him.

“You sure about that? Cause by the looks of things you could be dying, but you never tell us anything so how would we know.” Dean says his voice monotone and deeply implying his opinion on the matter.

Silence filled the small space. Cas was convinced he will never make it up to Dean for what happened to Mary, and he wasn’t sure he could forgive him for almost killing his son. ‘Why is Dean even pretending to care what happens to me?’ he thinks to himself.

“Yes, I am sure.” Cas finally barks back harsher than he intended.

“Cas, we thought you stopped breathing back there, we thought you were dead. You are not fine.” Sam cut in insistently before Cas could argue his own opinion on his current condition.

“Why am I in the back of your car?” Cas continues ignoring Sam and Dean’s annoyed gazes as he tries to push himself up off of Sam’s lap before almost falling off the bench seat.

“Woah, hey, lie back down.” Sam says quickly as he pulls him back from the edge of the seat.

“Well for one, both witches know where you were staying and could have come back to gank you, and two the place was practically fall apart.” Dean says simply, turning back to the road and adjusting his review mirror ignoring how Cas attempt at sitting up.

“Where are we going?” Cas asks hesitantly.

He wasn’t sure if they wanted him to tag along or if they wanted him to leave them to finish the case. He also wasn’t awfully fond of the idea of staying with them either. As his powers continued to deplete he was starting to need to sleep every so often as well as eat. Though he didn’t work with them anymore he didn’t like the idea of them thinking he was weak or incompetent. He was an angel after all. 

“We are on our way to a motel so we can book a room to stay in for the next few days until we figure out where those witches went and how to stop them. Hopefully we can get a room with three beds, that way you’ll be able to rest up while we do some research.” Sam explains to him as Cas looks up at him in confusion. 

‘Why are they worried about me? Their mother is dead because of me. Or at least that’s what they think. Maybe they are right?’ Cas thinks to himself before being pulled from his thoughts as Sam continues explaining the plan.

“…worse comes to worst Dean and I can just take turns at sleeping while the other researches.” Sam says looking down at him, a smile of reassurance on his face as Dean continues to drive down the quiet road.

“That won’t be necessary.” Cas tries, but even he can hear how weak he sounds. His eyes were starting to feel heavy as he felt his body begin to relax. Not by choice but from pure exhaustion.

“We can talk about it later. Just get some rest, ok?” Sam says smiling down at him.

“Ok” was all Cas could manage before he felt himself slip back into unconsciousness.

After 30 minutes they had reached the main town in the area. Sam and Dean reckoned that Cas was staying on the outskirts of town to avoid raising any suspicion in the towns folk or the witches who have invaded it. Dean pulls the Impala into the car park of one of the towns motels. He turns off the car and sits for a moment.

“How is he?” Dean asks trying not to sound too concerned.

“He’s sleeping which never means anything good for an angel but he’s breathing which is a lot better than how he was doing before.” Sam says trying to convince himself and his brother that Cas would be fine.

“Ok, I’ll go book a room while you wake him up. When I get back, I’ll help you get him settled in the room, then we’ll come back for the bags.” Dean tells Sam as he gets out of the car.

“I’ll be back in a minute” He says peaking back into the car before closing the door and hurrying over to the receptionist’s office.

Sam looked down at Cas. He was pale with dark circles under his eyes looking as if he hasn’t slept in a week, his scrunched-up complexion showing his discomfort. Sam opened the door and slid himself out from under Cas before getting out and crouching down to make sure not to startle Cas when he woke. He reaches his hand down onto the shorter man’s shoulder to try and stir him.

“Cas?” He asks attentively. The only response he got was a weak moan from Castiel.

“Ok, come on buddy, time to get you to a real bed.” Sam says trying to wake the sleeping angel again. This time he rolled onto his side, his eyes fluttering open and looking at Sam. Sam could tell he wasn’t 100% lucid, but definitely awake enough to be moved from the car to the motel room.

“Sam?” Cas asks his gaze unfocused as his eyes make their way to Sam’s face.

By this point Dean had now returned with a room key and was by his side ready to get Castiel from the car to the room.

“Alright, let’s get you to bed.” Dean says as he leans into the car to help Cas into a sitting position.

“m’fine” Cas slurs as he sways at the edge of the car seat, his feet now planted on the road.

“Yeah, keep telling yourself that.” Dean says dryly as he pulls one of Cas’ arms around his shoulders and begins to help him to his feet. Once Cas is out of the car and heavily leaning into Dean, Sam slides in to support his others side.

“Alright, let's go before anyone sees us.” Sam says quietly. It was still only late afternoon making them very easy to spot.

They hurry into the motel room and gently lower Cas onto the bed before going back out to grab their bags and the notes they had on the case. They had only been gone a minute and Cas was already asleep. He hadn’t even bothered to try get under the covers or even move from the crooked position they had left him in. 

Sam looks over at Dean who is staring down at the unconscious angel. Sam could see the guilt on his face, he was the reason Cas had left. That much was obvious. As Sam turns to the small table by the window to start looking into the case his brother walks over to Cas. 

He pulls him further up onto the bed, so his head is actually resting on the pillow, takes his Cas’ shoes off and carefully pulls the sheets out from under Cas trying his best not to jostle him around to much. Dean was just about to pull the sheets back over Cas when he suddenly stopped. He drops the sheets and reaches for Cas shirt and lifting it up. 

He sucked in a quick breath as he caught sight of the black veins that were still coating Cas’ torso, they had gotten worse as they had begun to travel further down and up Cas chest. The black oily veins had become thicker in the spots it had been the longest. Dean could see how it was shifting and contracting under his skin making Cas let out a quiet whimper every few minutes. He puts all the layers of fabric back to where they were and stares numbly at his friends still form. They needed to fix this, and quick, because there is no way of telling what ever this is could do and what time span they have to fix it.

“Sam?” Dean says quietly back to Sam as he looks down at Cas.

“Yeah?” Sam replies looking up from his laptop where he has set up at the table to research.

“Have you got anything yet?” Dean asks although he already knows the answer.

“No, but there has got to be something in Cas’ notes somewhere.” Sam says obviously trying to stay positive.

“Well the sooner we fix this, the sooner we can take him back to the bunker for some proper rest.” Dean says walking over and sitting down in the seat opposite his brother.   
Sam looks up from his screen.

“Ok, so get this…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know it isn't as action based as the previous chapters but I hope you all enjoyed 😊   
> Year 12 is really starting to ramp up now but I promise I will try my best to keep updating. Love you guys 😊

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading. This is my first fic and trust me I know I suck at grammar but please don't let that get in the way of you reading experience. 😊  
> Please give me feedback and let me know what you think in the comments. thanks 😊


End file.
